Australia has citizens from all over the world. Although only 20% of Australian citizens are born overseas, many more have a background from another country. We are very lucky to have so many different cultures in one country because we are able to experience many festivals and celebrations. In your groups of four you will select a country from the list below and present an aspect of its culture to the class:
New Zealand
China
Vietnam
England
India
Italy
Philippines
Ireland
You could choose to demonstrate a sport, game, dance, song, festivalcelebration, food, or custom. It is very important that you do not present something religious from that culture. You may accidently be disrespecting that religion. Your demonstration should include all members of the class. Your group will be the instructors.
There will be four individual roles that each member in your group must take on, decide this fairly and pick a role that you haven't done in previous activities.
Recorder: Records all the ideas of the group. Also writes the plan of the presentation.
Reporter: Leads the discussion with the teacher and also introduces the demonstration on the presentation day.
Motivator: Keeps everyone on task. This person will become the leader during rehearsal.
Creative designer: In charge of making any materials or props the group might need for the demonstration.
When you have decided your group roles and what you will present, click on the category from above that you think it is a part of (festival celebration for example.) This will take you to a page with questions you should consider about your cultural presentation. Your presentation is not only about a cultural demonstration, but also knowing the information behind it.
When you have all your background information, you should start a plan for your presentation. Do you have enough space in the classroom? What kind of materials will you need? How much time will you need? Will everyone in the class be able to participate in your cultural demonstration? If it is food that you are demonstrating you MUST consult with your teacher first to make sure it is safe for students with allergies. Sit down with your teacher and discuss if your plan is ok.
Now you can start rehearsing.
Your Family Recipe
For this task, you are required to work individually. You will interview family, friends or people you are close to in your community. You can record the interview with a video camera, tape recorder or written notes accompanied with photographs. The aim is to find out where these people have originated from before their families chose to settle in Australia.
Here are the required questions you must ask them to successfully conduct your interview and find out relevant information:
1. Ask them if they were born in Australia and if not when they came to Australia?
2. If they were born here, do they know when their parents/grandparents came here?
3. Where either they or their family came from?
4. What their first impressions of Australia were if they arrived here?
5. How times have changed in Australia in their lifetime?
6. What (if any) parts of their culture do they continue to practice here?
7. Ask them to share an interesting story.
These are the required questions but should not restrict you if you want to find out more information.
Once the interview has taken place, you will edit your work and decide how you plan to present it to the class such as using powerpoint with photographs or sharing your recorded information along with presenting key points.
To summarise this exercise, you must reflect on what you have learned about your family or close friends and what this has taught you about where you come from.
You can choose what parts of the recorded information you plan to present to the class along with your own personal reflection.
There will be a question and answer section at the end of your presentation. You must be prepared to answer these. Students are permitted to ask questions related to the presentation only. (Questions must not be intrusive to the individual student.)
Indigenous languages
In groups of four, you will choose an Indigenous tribe’s language to research and teach to the class. Some of the languages may still be spoken today and others will be recorded versions of the language once spoken. Links to the languages to be used are provided here.
You must first choose one of the languages and sign up for it with your teacher.
There will be four individual roles that each member in your group must take on, decide this fairly and pick a role that you haven't done in previous activities.
Recorder: Records information found during the group’s research
Reporter: Reports/ presents the main part of the lesson to the class
Motivator: Keeps the group focused on the task at hand, chooses lesson topic to be taught and compiles the group reflection
Creative designer: Chooses the best way to present the lesson and other information found, as well as editing the final presentation
Research the area that the language comes from and some other interesting facts to share in your lesson. The recorder will record the information found
Decide on the topic to be taught to the class. The motivator helps the group decide the topic
Find words associated with the topic and compile the words to appear in the lesson
The PowerPoint presentation is made by the group and the creative designer edits the final piece
Motivator compiles the group reflection of what they have learned through the process
The reporter practices the presentation of the topic with the group and the other group members take on a small role throughout the presentation such as final discussion, sharing other interesting facts about the origins of the language and introducing the lesson
Present to the class as a group
Reflect on the importance of these languages to the class and how their implementation into schools would bring back a culture almost forgotten for many.
Extra, extra, read all about it!
In groups of four, you will be given a period of time in Australian history. Research the key facts as to what occurred during that key era of Australian history. Each group must sign up for one of the topics given. A newspaper headline article is to be completed, highlighting the main information and people involved. A link to newspaper article templates is provided below. In your groups of four, you will be given one of the topics below by your teacher.
1. James Cook, 1770. Was he really the first European settler?
2. Penal Colony, 1788. The arrival of the first convict ships to Australia.
3. Gold Rush, 1850s. Free Immigration due to the Gold Rush.
5. Post- War, 1945. Department of Immigration was established.
6. Changing Society, 1956. Ethnic diversity of citizenship.
7. Australian Citizenship Act, 1973. All migrants equal.
There will be four individual roles that each member in your group must take on, decide this fairly and pick a role that you haven't done in previous activities.
Recorder: Records information found during the group’s research and puts the finished piece together
Reporter: Reports/ presents the finished article to the class and chooses the best template for the article
Motivator: Keeps the group focused on the task at hand and chooses best catchphrase/headline
Creative designer: Edits the final article. Chooses the best catch phrase to accompany the finished article and
Brainstorm what you already know about this topic.
Research the topic using the internet and school library.
Discuss as a group what you want to be in the article.
Recorder records this information and the group completes a rough draft for the article.
Motivator will keep the students focused on task.
Creative designer will edit the article that has been put together.
Each group member will offer a catchy phrase or headline to be used and the motivator will decide on the most appropriate one to accompany the article.
The group will choose an appropriate picture/photograph to accompany the finished article.
Recorder puts the finished piece together using the chosen template.
If Australia were a village of 100 people... Statistics are hard to understand. They are often big numbers that mean nothing to us. So using statistics lets reduce the size of Australia to a small village with only 100 people living in it! With a smaller number we should be able to understand what those statistics are saying. Create a presentation on the computer representing a statistic regarding Australia. Some possible ways of presenting this could be through powerpoint, movie maker software, stickfigure animator, voice threads, etc. If you have another idea that isn't written here, discuss it with your teacher first to make sure it is appropriate.
There will be four individual roles that each member in your group must take on, decide this fairly and pick a role that you haven't done in previous activities
Recorder: Writes out the draft
Reporter: Reports/ presents the finished article to the class.
Motivator: Keeps the group focused on the task at hand and leads the group in reading the book.
Creative designer: Works on the final product with everyone. He/She will also settle any disputes about the presentation (after listening to all members' ideas.)
In your group read the book "If the world were a village: a book about the world's people" by David J. Smith. It should be in your school or local library. This book will help you to understand this task.
Select a statistic from below. Click on the title to look at the figures. Using these numbers think of a way to present this to the class creatively. Create a draft and get it approved by the teacher. (Hint:Some percentages may be too small so you will have to group some categories together. You will also need to round up or down from a decimal point to a whole number.)
Racism: It's no comical affair Racism is a very serious issue not just in Australia, but all over the world. What do you know about racism? This task has two projects: a comic and a poster. First let’s get to know a little about racism. Click here to read a short passage about racism.
Project 1
Individually read the two comics on the Racism. Noway. Website here. After reading these, create your own comic. In this comic you should show someone being discriminated against, and also how they deal with it.
If you would like to create your comic online click here for a great website. When you have finished it, be sure to print it on an A4 sheet of paper.
If you would like to create your comic strip by hand make sure you do it on an A4 sheet of paper.
When everyone has finished, all comic strips will be bound together and made into a class comic book.
Project 2
Individually create an anti-racism poster on an A3 sheet of paper. These posters when finished will be hung up in the classroom. These posters should reflect something that you have learned about racism or understanding people. Things like human rights here in Australia, understanding ourselves and others, discrimination, and many more. You can use coloured paper, textas, coloured pencils, paint, glitter, etc. Make these posters eye-catching.
Celebrate a culture
Australia has citizens from all over the world. Although only 20% of Australian citizens are born overseas, many more have a background from another country. We are very lucky to have so many different cultures in one country because we are able to experience many festivals and celebrations.
In your groups of four you will select a country from the list below and present an aspect of its culture to the class:
You could choose to demonstrate a sport, game, dance, song, festival celebration, food, or custom. It is very important that you do not present something religious from that culture. You may accidently be disrespecting that religion. Your demonstration should include all members of the class. Your group will be the instructors.
Your Family Recipe
For this task, you are required to work individually. You will interview family, friends or people you are close to in your community. You can record the interview with a video camera, tape recorder or written notes accompanied with photographs. The aim is to find out where these people have originated from before their families chose to settle in Australia.
Here are the required questions you must ask them to successfully conduct your interview and find out relevant information:
1. Ask them if they were born in Australia and if not when they came to Australia?
2. If they were born here, do they know when their parents/grandparents came here?
3. Where either they or their family came from?
4. What their first impressions of Australia were if they arrived here?
5. How times have changed in Australia in their lifetime?
6. What (if any) parts of their culture do they continue to practice here?
7. Ask them to share an interesting story.
These are the required questions but should not restrict you if you want to find out more information.
Indigenous languages
In groups of four, you will choose an Indigenous tribe’s language to research and teach to the class. Some of the languages may still be spoken today and others will be recorded versions of the language once spoken. Lin
http://www.yuwaalaraay.org/lessons/trans1.html
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bowern/nhirrpi.htm
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AborigPages/LANG/GAMDICT/GAMDICT.HTM
http://www1.aiatsis.gov.au/ASEDA/docs/0739-Kriol/index.1.html
http://sydney.edu.au/arts/linguistics/research/wagiman/dict/dict.html
http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~madms/kutthu.html
Extra, extra, read all about it!
In groups of four, you will be given a period of time in Australian history. Research the key facts as to what occurred during that key era of Australian history. Each group must sign up for one of the topics given. A newspaper headline article is to be completed, highlighting the main information and people involved. A link to newspaper article templates is provided below.
In your groups of four, you will be given one of the topics below by your teacher.
1. James Cook, 1770. Was he really the first European settler?
2. Penal Colony, 1788. The arrival of the first convict ships to Australia.
3. Gold Rush, 1850s. Free Immigration due to the Gold Rush.
4. Immigration Restriction Act, 1901. Restricting immigration.
5. Post- War, 1945. Department of Immigration was established.
6. Changing Society, 1956. Ethnic diversity of citizenship.
7. Australian Citizenship Act, 1973. All migrants equal.
http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/belongings/about-belongings/australias-migration- history/
http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/culturally_diverse.html
http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/websites-mini/immigration-timeline/
http://www.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/values/book/english/lia_english_full.pdf
If Australia were a village of 100 people...
Statistics are hard to understand. They are often big numbers that mean nothing to us. So using statistics lets reduce the size of Australia to a small village with only 100 people living in it! With a smaller number we should be able to understand what those statistics are saying. Create a presentation on the computer representing a statistic regarding Australia. Some possible ways of presenting this could be through powerpoint, movie maker software, stickfigure animator, voice threads, etc. If you have another idea that isn't written here, discuss it with your teacher first to make sure it is appropriate.
Racism: It's no comical affair
Racism is a very serious issue not just in Australia, but all over the world. What do you know about racism? This task has two projects: a comic and a poster. First let’s get to know a little about racism. Click here to read a short passage about racism.
Individually read the two comics on the Racism. Noway. Website here. After reading these, create your own comic. In this comic you should show someone being discriminated against, and also how they deal with it.
If you would like to create your comic online click here for a great website. When you have finished it, be sure to print it on an A4 sheet of paper.
If you would like to create your comic strip by hand make sure you do it on an A4 sheet of paper.
When everyone has finished, all comic strips will be bound together and made into a class comic book.
Individually create an anti-racism poster on an A3 sheet of paper. These posters when finished will be hung up in the classroom. These posters should reflect something that you have learned about racism or understanding people. Things like human rights here in Australia, understanding ourselves and others, discrimination, and many more. You can use coloured paper, textas, coloured pencils, paint, glitter, etc. Make these posters eye-catching.